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PRIME MINISTER MR. NEHRU OF INDIA AND PAKISTAN'S PRESIDENT AYUB KHAN SIGNED THE LONG-NEGOTIATED INDUS?

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PRIME MINISTER MR. NEHRU OF INDIA AND PAKISTAN'S PRESIDENT AYUB KHAN SIGNED THE LONG-NEGOTIATED INDUS WATER TREATY IN KARACHI ON SEPT. 19.

INDIAN PRIME MINISTER MR. NEHRU RECEIVED A WARM WELCOME WHEN HE ARRIVED IN KARACHI ON MONDAY.

HE WAS GREETED BY PRESIDENT AYUB KHAN AND INTRODUCED TO THE CABINET MINISTERS, SERVICE CHIEFS AND DIPLOMATIC CORPS.

THE INDIAN LEADER CAME TO KARACHI TO SIGN THE LONG-NEGOTIATED TREATY ON SHARING WATERS OF THE INDUS RIVER BASIN. BUT MOST OF MR. NEHRU'S TIME WOULD BE SPENT ON TALKS WITH PRESIDENT AYUB KHAN ON A WIDE RANGE OF TALKS.

OBSERVERS BELIEVED THEY WOULD DISCUSS THE THORNY PROBLEM OF KASHMIR AND OTHER ISSUES WHICH HAVE POISONED INDO-PAKISTAN RELATIONS SINCE 1947.

THE FIRST FUNCTION OF THE VISITING PRIME MINISTER WAS TO LAY A WREATH AT THE TOM OF MOHAMMED ALI JINNAH, THE FOUNDER AND FIRST PRESIDENT OF PAKISTAN. HE ALSO LAID A WREATH AT THE TOMB OF THE FIRST PRIME MINISTER OF PAKISTAN, MR. LIAQUAT ALI KHAN.

MR. NEHRU WAS GIVEN A CIVIC WELCOME AT FRERE HALL, KARACHI.

LATER IN THE AFTERNOON, AT A NOTABLE CEREMONY AT THE PRESIDENT'S HOUSE, THE TWO LEADERS SIGNED THE INDUS WATER TREATY. THE OTHER SIGNATORY WAS MR. W.A.B. ILIFF, VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL BANK, WHO PLAYED A NOTABLE PART IN BRINGING THE TWO COUNTRIES TO AN AGREEMENT.

THE TREATY PROVIDES FOR THE DIVISION OF SIX BORDER RIVERS BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES.

AFTER THE TREATY HAD BEEN SIGNED REPRESENTATIVES OF SIX WESTERN NATIONS - THE UNITED STATES, THE UNITED KINGDOM, THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY, CANADA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND - AND OF THE INTERNATIONAL BANK SIGNED A SUPPLEMENTARY AGREEMENT SETTING UP A DEVELOPMENT FUND TO FINANCE THE IRRIGATION OF THE INDUS BASIN PROJECT UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE INTERNATIONAL BANK.

THE TOTAL COST OF THE SCHEME IS ESTIMATED AT ABOUT GBP360 MILLION STERLING, TO BE SPREAD OVER TEN YEARS. APART FROM THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF INDIA, PAKISTAN AND THE INTERNATIONAL BANK, THE SIX WESTERN NATIONS WILL JOIN IN SHARING THE COST.

THE SIGNING OF THE TREATY AND THE SUPPLEMENTARY AGREEMENT INAUGURATES AN IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT SCHEME THAT DWARFS EVEN THE ASWAN HIGH DAM PROJECT AND WHICH WILL DIRECTLY BENEFIT MORE THAN 40 MILLION PEOPLE IN THE SUB-CONTINENT.